Cogling

by Jordan Elizabeth

Harrison sat beside her with his chin on his knees. “D’you think they’ll let us out soon?”

  She swallowed the “no” from her tongue. “Of course.” She pulled him closer. His skinny body shivered against her. He was frail and malnourished already. It wouldn’t be long before… Edna shook the worry aside. As long as he stayed beside her, the evil kept away.

  “Why didn’t Mum listen?” Harrison sniffled.

  She used a corner of her skirt to wipe his nose. “Because the hags convinced her we’re evil.”

  “She’s Mum, though.”

  Edna couldn’t look at him, scared he’d see the tears in her eyes. “They hypnotized her. She’ll come out of it and help us.” If they hadn’t, and their mother thought for herself instead of listening to the police and Mother Sambucus… Edna gulped down a sob.

  “And Father?” Harrison rested his head against her shoulder. “Father’s gonna come, ain’t he?”

  “Of course.” If their father left the train yard and stopped laying tracks, they would fire him. He needed the job. Mum probably wouldn’t have told him what had happened.

  “And Ike?”

  “He’s our hope. We’ll get out of here. Mum and Father will get us a lawyer.”

  Harrison shifted away from her. “Can’t afford that. Our kind don’t get lawyers.”

  Our kind. He’d never spoken like that before the hags kidnapped him. He never acted as though people belonged to different classes. She bit back her helplessness.

  “We’ll get out.” She smiled for his benefit. “I doubt we’ll be here longer than today. If no one comes for us, we’ll get out of here ourselves. I still have the cameo.” And the evil. “I’m with you. I’ll protect you.”

  Someone moaned from further down in the prison’s dungeon. Since throwing them in, the officers hadn’t returned. Edna considered calling, but she didn’t want to hear who answered.

  “Who d’you know who left prison?” Harrison asked.

  “Lots of people.” Edna couldn’t think of a single soul. People who were sent there visited the gallows after, or rotted in their cell.

  “When d’you reckon we’ll eat?”

  “Soon. They got to feed us.” Her voice rose too loudly. Someone in another cell hooted.

  “Food,” a man screamed. “Food in the pockets, food in the gullets. Blood on the floor, blood on the floor.”

  Edna pressed her hands over Harrison’s ears. She wanted him to pull away, like old times, but instead, he groaned. She sang, hoping it would comfort him.

  “Bloody rats all in a hat,

  Upon which Victor Viper sat.

  Little feet with little shoes,

  Little people with little hues.

  Flames and smoke all leaping high,

  Upon which we all might die.”

  A dark shape scurried through the bars into their cell.

  “That a rat?” Harrison asked. “Can we eat it, you reckon?”

  Edna wondered why the thought of chewing into raw rat didn’t turn her stomach. “We can grab it by the tail and fling it against the wall until it dies. It might bite us, though, and rats carry diseases. If only we had something to throw at it. A quick bop on the head would do it.” She cringed, a sourness coating her tongue. “Never before have I entertained the idea of eating a rat.”

  The creature splashed through a puddle, edging closer. It stepped into a patch of moonlight.

  Its hindquarters were covered by bristly, brown hair, but its torso was similar to a man’s. The head contained thick hair and pointed ears. It snapped its fangs at them, flicking its skinny tail.

  “Soot demon.” Edna gulped. Nastier than rats, for they could use their front paws as hands. She shrank against the slimy wall, tugging Harrison with her. The soot demon squinted at them, drew back its lips, and hissed.

  “Is it gonna bite us?” Harrison’s chest heaved against her side.

  Soot demons kept to the poorer neighborhoods. There had only been five invasions at their tenement in the past. Edna recalled a child being bitten. A few days later, the little boy had died.

  “We have to kill it.” Her voice wavered. “What can we use?”

  “A rock?” Harrison looked around the cell.

  “There ain’t any rocks. The moldy straw won’t help. Neither will the puddles.”

  The soot demon leapt toward them. Edna screamed as it landed on her boot. Fear constricted her throat, making her cough, and the evil pumped through her veins.

  “Get it away,” Harrison shouted.

  Edna kicked the soot demon off her foot. The creature sailed through the air, shrieking and hissing. It struck the bars and fell into the hallway.

  “Did it bite you?” Harrison grabbed her arm.

  “Not yet.” Edna hurried to her feet and ran to the bars. She kicked the soot demon again as it tried to reenter. “Git! Scat, you filthy wretch.”

  “Tell ‘em, trollop,” someone called.

  The soot demon reared on its hind legs and flicked its forked tongue at her. Then a dark hand swept down and grabbed the creature. The soot demon sank its fangs into the fist, but shrieked when it couldn’t pierce the leathery gray skin.

  Edna lifted her gaze. A creature as tall as she, but thrice as wide, stood just beyond the bars. The hairs on her arms stood up in fright. He was naked except for a loincloth and skull necklace. She recognized them as soot demon skulls. Sometimes hags sold them in the street, meant to ward away evil.

  “Odds bobs,” Harrison gasped. “What’s that?”

  The creature shook its wide head and stirred its long greasy hair. Tufts stood up straight and others hung over its large ears. It lifted the soot demon and bit off the little head. Blood sprayed over the stones underfoot. The creature spit the head into its other hand and gobbled the rest of the soot demon.

  “Troll,” a hoarse male voice said from across the hall. A shape shifted in the cell. “They was dug out o’ the ground when the city was built. Now they’re warders. Watch the dungeon. Only the dungeon.” The villain cracked a laugh. “Git in the sunshine an’ their skin burns. Make sure we don’t get out.”

  “How would we get out?” Edna asked.

  The troll turned blue eyes on her. They glowed in the dark.

  “Eddie, get back.” Harrison grabbed a fistful of her dress.

  “Ya don’t never get out.” The other inmate laughed until he coughed and spit up phlegm.

  The troll watched Edna and Harrison with a huge smile on his bloated lips. They parted, revealing glimpses of bloodstained fangs. Another soot demon scampered by. The troll turned and lumbered after it.

  The soot demon’s squeal filled the hallway, followed by the troll’s chomping.

  Edna rested her arm around Harrison’s shoulder; their trembling mixed to become one entity. “It can’t bother us, Harry-boy. We’re in here and it’s out there.”

  “What’d you all do t’ git dumped here?” the inmate called.

  Edna hugged her brother before she answered. “We angered some hags. You?”

  “Stole stuff I shouldn’t have known about.” The inmate cackled again.

  “We’ll get out of here, I promise.” Edna drew Harrison back to the wall. The troll lumbered by, and someone called for help.

  “Shouldn’t upset hags,” the inmate said. “They is the worst of enemies.”

  Only one full moon.

  hen Rachel awoke, she lay on a cot. The lumpy mattress pressed against the back of her aching head, so she rolled over onto her side, moaning. Bile rose in her throat and she gulped.

  Misty sunlight filtered through a barred window high in the whitewashed wall. The room was lined with brass beds like hers. She counted seven before her mind spun too fast. Each bed had a small wooden trunk at the end.

  Rachel sat up and closed her eyes until dizziness faded, then studied the other beds more intently. Women ranging from her age to older lay on them in shapeless white dresses. Some of the attire was stained, and some of the women were chained to th
e bed frames.

  “Hello?” Her raspy voice scratched her throat. “Can someone help me?”

  None of the other females moved.

  Something squeaked in the hallway. A second later, the door opened and a shiny woman entered, pushing a metal cart. No, she wasn’t a woman. She was an automation maid.

  The mechanical woman pushed the cart to the end of Rachel’s bed. Over her metal body, she wore a tight black dress. “You have awoken.”

  Rachel tried to wet her lips, but her tongue was too dry.

  “Come with me.” Leaving the cart, the mechanical woman walked back to the door. Rachel staggered off the bed to follow. Her legs wobbled, but when she held out her arms, her balance steadied. A headache nagged and the coldness of the hardwood floor bit the bottoms of Rachel’s bare feet.

  The woman locked the door after them, using a large key ring attached to her blue sash. The hallway had a high ceiling lit by circular windows at either end and lined with doors similar to the one they had exited. Rachel scratched her side. The white dress she wore itched.

  She froze. Someone had dressed her. Someone, other than a maid, had seen her naked. She felt across her body, but no. She wore nothing except the dress that buttoned up the front. Shame burned her cheeks.

  “Come.” The mechanical woman beckoned.

  Rachel’s heart pounded as she hurried to catch up. “Where are we going? I shouldn’t be here.”

  Someone screamed from behind a closed door. Rachel’s blood chilled in her veins.

  They walked down a wide flight of stairs to another hallway, exactly like the first. The woman stopped at a door and knocked twice. “Enter,” a male voice boomed.

  The hinges squealed before falling silent as the maid opened the door.

  Rachel hesitated before she stepped inside. The automation waited in the doorway. Bookcases covered the walls. A man sat behind a large desk. He stood, but didn’t bow.

  “I don’t belong here. The hags did this.” Tears burned her eyes.

  “Lady Rachel.” He strolled around his desk. The lapels of his black coat whispered against each other. “We rarely receive nobility. Your kind likes to keep to themselves.” He sounded as though he thought she was no better than a rat.

  “I must tell you what happened.”

  “I know exactly what happened.” He smiled as his eyes roamed her body. “You escaped the Staff Ring, and you even kept your virginity intact.”

  She leapt back, and realized the mechanical woman blocked the doorway.

  “One of our nurses checked you before you were dressed.” He stood a few inches taller than she, was around forty years of age, with a clean-shaven face and graying black hair. He shouldn’t look so normal in the threatening asylum. She wanted to tear his blue suit into rags.

  “There is no Staff Ring. The hags kidnapped me. They replaced me with a cogling.”

  “The story Mother Sambucus said you would say.” He sighed. “I am Doctor Louis. I run this hospital.”

  “This is an asylum!”

  “At times, a man gives us his unwanted wife so he may marry again. Those who don’t really belong here are given tasks. This is a working farm. Men and women do everything here, and you can join that task force. I will let you stay.” He touched her cheek and laughed when she jerked away.

  She’d never considered the possibility of living in one of those hovels. She tried to think of something to say to prove her honesty. There had to be some spark she could light.

  Doctor Louis grabbed her face and kissed her, forcing her lips to part and welcome his tongue. She beat her fists against his chest, ripping away. As she stepped back, she slapped him. He caught her wrist.

  “Get off me,” she shrieked.

  “This is my jurisdiction. I do as I please.” He thrust her toward the mechanical woman. “I always let my guests know what punishment looks like here. Nurse, take her to the ice.”

  The mechanical woman caught Rachel around the waist. Rachel flailed, but the woman was too strong. She dragged Rachel down the hallway, splinters digging into her bare feet. Doctor Louis followed. Rachel screamed, and others behind closed doors echoed her cries. Mechanical nurses walked by, but they didn’t look.

  Doctor Louis unlocked a door and the nurse forced Rachel inside. The room had stone walls, moisture dripping off, with a large circular hole in the middle of the floor. It was filled with water, hunks of ice bobbing in it. A chair sat on the edge. The nurse pushed Rachel into the seat and strapped her wrists to the wooden arms. Then she fastened her ankles to the wooden legs. Lastly she tied one of the thick, leather straps across Rachel’s shoulders, securing her to the chair.

  “What are you doing?” Rachel panted. Once she would’ve threatened them with her father’s noble name. Now she had nothing.

  “If you don’t obey, this happens.” Doctor Louis kissed her again. Pinned to the chair, she could only turn her head a little. He bit her bottom lip before stepping back.

  A metal lever stuck up from the floor beside the chair and the nurse pulled it forward. The chair flipped backwards. Water closed over Rachel. She choked, writhing against her bonds. Ice froze her skin to the point of pain.

  The chair lifted. She gasped, sputtering. Water ran over her body. Her dress clung to her curves, revealing her pink skin.

  “Again,” Doctor Louis said. The nurse pulled the lever. Rachel thrashed until the leather straps cut her skin. Her lungs burned for oxygen.

  When she lifted free, Doctor Louis cupped her frigid chin. Her teeth chattered. Panic gnawed upon her senses. A myriad of emotions poured over her, but she couldn’t grab one to cling to; they slipped away too fast.

  “No one cares what I do to you,” he murmured. “Nurse, get her something dry. We can’t have her dead on us. Yet. Then take her back to her bed. She won’t eat today. Perhaps tomorrow she’ll be more agreeable.”

  “May the Saints pity you, for I never shall,” Rachel hissed.

  The doctor sneered, pulling the lever to dunk her once more.

  I can feel its presence as it draws near.

  xtra, extra!” The newsboy waved a paper above his head. “City one step closer to catching the Staff Ring. Maid in custody.”

  Ike ran to the news carrier, his heart thudding. “I’ll take one.” Ike fumbled in his pockets for coins he’d stolen from a businessman on his way to the street corner.

  The newsboy accepted the five pennies and handed over the paper.

  Ike tucked it under his arm and tried to slow his steps as he headed back to Hilda’s apartment. People didn’t look at him as they bustled past. “Edna,” Ike whispered, ducking into the doorway of a tenement. A gin addict slumped near the stone steps, a bottle clasped in his hands.

  Ike skimmed the article as he took the stairs two at a time, silently enchanting the air to keep him from tripping.

  Police Chief Johnson announced early this morning that Edna Mather and Harrison Mather were arrested late last night for the kidnapping of their mistress, Lady Rachel.

  Ike rolled the newspaper into a tube and smacked it against the railing.

  A boy walking by with a large soapy bowl paused to grin. “Ya git it? Them is nasty spiders, ain’t they?”

  Ike pictured the officers in their blue uniforms, limbs stretching in all directions to only help the nobles. “Nasty, aye.”

  He pushed Hilda’s door, which he had left open a crack, and didn’t care about the squealing hinges.

  She stirred her cauldron. “What did you find?”

  Ike slapped the newspaper onto the table beside her glass vials. “They arrested her. Same as we already knew. Nobody cares. The poor folks are put away and the rich are still safe.”

  Hilda lifted a glass vial and ladled some of her purple potion into it. “Listen to yourself, boy. You used to be one of those rich folks. Did you ever think about the people below you? Did you think about the bad fellows?” She pushed a cork in the vial. “No, you went on with your merriness. You lived in a bloody
castle and you had servants.”

  “And I was the hag’s brat. You think they treated Mum and me well? No, there was always a comment about us.” He stabbed the paper with his index finger. “This ain’t about all that. This is for Edna and Harrison.”

  Hilda wiped her hands on her embroidered apron. “I’m just making you think, is all. You’re painting the hags as the bad fellows too, but they all have other sides.”

  Ike shoved his hands into his pockets. “I know all that. I lived with them for a good many years. Odd bodkins, I was there when they first decided to enslave the humans. What they’re doing is wrong. They can’t force children to work in factories.”

  “Is that what this is all about? Your vendetta is for the sake of the children?”

  He looked toward the wall where she kept a picture of pressed flowers. “Yes. No. All of it is what I’m fighting against. I know the hags and I know the humans. Humans do awful things too. They keep the tomtars as slaves, but that’s just because the hag advisors want them to. If the hags weren’t there, the kingdom wouldn’t have half so much power.”

  “So what do you want in the end?” She walked around the table to cup his face.

  Ike met her gaze. “I don’t want sides or teams. Hags don’t work for humans. Humans don’t work for hags. Tomtars don’t work for anyone.”

  “That’ll never happen.” She sighed.

  “Then I want the humans to stay free, at least, and I’ll work on the rest later.”

  “The rest.” She laughed. “When you’re king, right?”

  He pushed her away by the shoulders. “You said you’d come with me to prove my point.”

  “I will. Now then, let’s save your lover.” She lifted the newspaper off her table and flicked it to straighten the edges.

  “She’s not my lover.” He gritted his teeth, yet his chest tightened. An image of Edna’s lips, swollen after her dunk in the river, toyed with his mind.

  Hilda wiggled her brows as her eyes scanned the passage. “Blimey, this takes up half the front page.”

  “It says they were arrested. We already know that,” he growled. “It says they were taken to prison. Saints above us, we already know that too. It says her list of crimes, all of it a fat lie.”